BEP is not the last release in the Wood Finishing Series. Maker's Mark is relaunching it in 2024 with BR-22A aka "The Heart Release." It's switching over to the new bottle/label style as well. It's supposed to be the first of five additional releases in the series and will be bottled in February of 2024. This one comes in at 112.6 Proof. Stave profile will be a blend of toasted American and French Oak staves. The description is already out there: For this second chapter of our Limited Release Wood Finishing Series, we pursue unique taste visions inspired by the teams who craft our handmade bourbon in Loretto, Kentucky - the Makers of our Maker's if you will. In this 2024 release, known as The Heart Release, we have crafted a one-of-a-kind expression that celebrates our team that distills our whisky. This team is the center - the heart if you will - of our whisky-making process. This stage in the process serves to guide all other stages, ensuring our taste vision is realized. Fruit forward with caramel, maple, and chocolate notes, this expression features a rich, creamy mouthfeel that is a pure delight. We hope you enjoy this one as much as we enjoyed making it.

BEP...so good to me, I bought 3 bottles... Most dissapointing....I have a Bakers 7...its my first one, and I was excited about it....I use it for cooking now....

Makers Mark BEP 2023 ending up on this list SHOCKED me. One of the best I've ever had!

As others have said here, I'm actually a big fan of the MM BEP. I feel it is a strong offering in their wood finishing series. I watched the original review y'all did of it. Was hoping to hear your opinion of it had changed, but as you always say, everyone has their own preferences. Keep up the great videos!

I just bought a bottle of the Maker's Mark BEP and have not opened it yet. In the past, it has been one of my top 5. I hope this one doesn't disappoint. I brought it to Israel from California, so I'm going to drink it. Even if I agree with your review, I am thinking it will still be better than just about any Bourbon I can buy Here in Israel. The choices of American whiskey are few and far between. If you have any influence with Heaven Hill, please tell them we need more of their products. Actually, that would be true of just about every Bourbon Distillery. Good Scotch is easy to source, but then again, Scotland is a lot closer than Kentucky. Love your videos. Happy Holidays.

Makers BEP was in my top 5 this year ! Fabulous bottle esp for 80

I picked up a bottle of Calument 15 yr for a special occasion sipper and also took a bottle of Coopers Craft 100proof for ol' fashioneds. The Calumet wasn't bad but, I was very disappointed. The $30 coopers far out-shined the Calumet.

I firmly believe EVERYBODY is riding the Bourbon wave and putting out as much product as the can bottle. Adding SKUs to product lineups by "barrel finishing", etc is only compounding the problem. I think a lot of marginal product is being released simply to take advantage of the current Bourbon craze...

Trenton and Kurton keepin it funky fresh

Surprised on the BEP. I love Booker’s and they have been crushing it last couple years,finally. The Apprentice was good but definitely not the best of the last two years. The Master Keep was horrible this year. Wish I had bought a few Sagamore Rum Cask bottles instead.

WOW.... I love the BEP... one of my favs!

I really do like the disappointment videos. On my budget a miss on anything is a disaster. If it's around $30 it might be tolerable. But anything more would leave me in tears.

Really enjoy you guys. Could you do a video for people who are not exactly beginners and looking to take the leap to $40 to $50 dollars range. Thanks

One thing I don't understand about Marker's Mark is they famously refused to do older aged bourbon because their master distiller was staunchly against oak tannins, even with Fred Minnick's protest. Then they go and do the wood finishing series, which is hyper-oaky and some are ridiculously tannic. When they finally release an older aged bourbon, they age it in a cellar to slow the aging down, so it's not quite as aged as the years would imply. It just makes no sense. They don't quite do the thing people want and give them endless stave-finished bourbons that are more tannic than leaving some barrels alone for 10 years. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.

I know this won't be popular but my most disappointing bottle of 2023 was the SLB Old Elk Rum Rye. Yes I did let it open up and went back to it several times but i do not get anything special from this rye, especially for the price. I would gladly have an Angel's Envy Rum Finished Rye for less money.

Makers BEP seems to be a polarizing bottle. I've only had a few pours of mine so far but am still not totally sure how I feel about it. So far it hasn't blown me away but I definitely don't feel like I wasted my money at msrp.

The Tin Cup doesn't surprise me one bit. For me, whenever you proof down a 10+ year aged bourbon, it somehow waters down all of the flavor except the oak. That's my experience with Eagle Rare, Tin Cup 10, and I wouldn't touch that Tin Cup 14 with a 10-foot pole.

I noticed towards the end, talk of rum such as Appleton 12 and 15 year was brought up. My BIG problem with Rum is discovering that most if not all of the major rum producers incorporate sugar after aging to soften any imperfections. For me, the idea of adding anything after being placed in the barrel or after leaving the barrel to improve it, is sacrilegious. Makes for a phony product.

The apprentice actually blinded by far the best of the 4 batches this year . now not sure what that says about the whole line in general but I did enjoy the apprentice

My first bottle of tin cup 10 was great, but the bottle I got last month was worse than the silver top.

Couldn’t agree more with the Tincup 14er. I loved the tincup 10 and was really excited when the 14 first came out (I live in Colorado and it’s easily findable for $65-70) but for my palate the oak overpowered all the sweet fruit that was present on the 10. It’s not bad, and not terrible for the price, but I’d reach for the 10 over the 14 every time.

Thankfully I watch of ton of videos and read a lot before I make a purchase. High west campfire was a really poor buy this year. Us Texas folk try to support Texas whiskey but it’s tough sometimes. There’s some good ones but imo there’s a lot more ehh ones than great ones. I bought two balcones this year and was disappointed in both. Same for Garrison Brothers Balmorhea.

i'm from Chicago and I see the Koval all the time but never heard anything good about it!

Disagree on the BEP, it’s certainly not my face of the Wood Finishing series but it’s not a bad pour for $70. And fairly good availability. I’m in CO and the Tincup 14er is in stores everywhere. I’ve been passing as well

Hey guys get a load of this: Doritos is betting its nacho-cheese flavored liquor is all that and a bag of chips - for $65 a bottle. The PepsiCo-owned snack food has partnered with drink company Empirical to produce a “savory nacho cheese-imbued beverage experience that smells and tastes just like the real thing,” according to a press release issued Tuesday. Dubbed the Nacho Cheese Spirit, it’s also made with malted barley and Belgian saison yeast, which is known for its peppery, spicy flavor. The essence of real nacho-flavored Doritos is retained “through vacuum distillation” and offers hints of corn tostada, umami and acidity. The liquor, which has 42% alcohol by volume, will “bring a moment of ‘WTF!?’ to anyone who tries it,”

The apprentice batch was pretty dang good to me.

I bought a limited edition cask strength Heigold at the Rabbit Hole distillery for 150. Cool bottle, cool artwork. Decent whisky. At 75 it would have been a good buy. At 150 it was disappointing.

I’ve really loved the maker’s 46 and few wood stave finished barrel selects I’ve gotten to try from Makers. Would the BEP be worth picking up if I do typically enjoy their wood stave finishing bourbons?

Mine is a Four Roses Single Barrel Barrel Strength OBSF store pick. Alottt of guys I’m sure will disagree with me, and if you love four roses you will probably love this bottle. But it is not my cup of bourbon and at 100$ I could get another very nice bottle 🤷🏻‍♂️

I am very surprised to hear the Voyage made the list. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the way the nose, flavor, and finish evolved as it was drank.

Only thing I’ve bought this year that severely disappointed me was a Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Rye. I must’ve picked a bad one because I’ve heard good things and I really liked the regular Single Barrel Selects that I’ve tried

Catching up - had to watch this with Tin Cup 10 YR

The apprentice batch wasn't made by apprentices lol - I couldn't tell if you were joking or not. It's just a name in reference to Booker Noe starting his apprentice ship under Carl Beam. Also it was my favorite of the Booker's releases this year as I found it's uniqueness to the others interesting.

Saw WT Generations at a Costco in KY last Saturday for $429. Sorry. No way!

I didnt have any major disappointments this year owing to the fact i wasnt able to spend more than $30 or so on any bottle. Didnt end up with anything that really bummed me out terribly. Worst was probably Virginia Gentleman. Had to try it! Made me FEEL weird. Old Crow sucked too.

I have a few bottles that I am not crazy about but the one that really stands out, in a negative way, is the Fiddler Amburana. The Amburana is overpowering on the nose and palate.

Can yall move the russells 13 so I dont have to stare at it anymore?

I appreciate the fact that you take everything into account when deciding on a bottle. Taste, price, availability. Just a thought, for the bottles you don't like and aren't interested in keeping, maybe do samples. Just a thought.

The W.T masters was my drinking Buddy's worst disappointment EVER!

The Koval Four Grain is by far their worse offering. The Koval Bourbon is great at the price point; one of our favorites. Throw it in a blind and let's see how it does. Or try the Oat and Ryes.

I got a deal on the standard Tin Cup and enjoyed the bottle. Never tried the 10 or 14. A bit to low proof for the price to me.

Thanks for the video! It'll help me avoid making mistakes on these bottles. I had a bit of Christmas bourbon luck today though. I went to a BevMo looking for some Trader Vic's Hot Buttered Rum Batter and their Tom & Jerry Batter for holiday drinks, and that stuff is near impossible to find...it's like it's allocated or something. So, since I was there, I decided I might as well check the fancy whiskey display case. I was rather shocked to find several bottles of Stagg (Jr) at MSRP. Well, I didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I bought one (I decided it was best to leave some holiday cheer for others). Merry Christmas!

I'll take what's left of the voyage lol. I love it. It has those older 1980s turkey funky notes. Not full blown WT funk but as close as any modern release has come.

The prices on everything Wild Turkey have gotten absolutely ridiculous. They can pound sand. I tried the starlight cigar batch this year and it is without a doubt the absolute worst bottle I’ve ever had.

I bought a bottle of 2022 Shenk’s after watching one of your videos and just do not like it. It smells like a butterscotch candy but is very harsh tasting. Definitely the one I regret buying for $150. Wishing like hell I would’ve picked up the 2023 bomberger’s that was sitting right next to it instead.

I couldn't agree more about Voyage. I did like BEP though.

Hey kurt Binnys has the koval signal barrel and I enjoy it. It's about $35 and pretty good.

Trent- “Uno Reverse card.” 🎉

Love Koval. But yet to find a four grain that I like.

I bought a Yellowstone Store Pick from a Kroger in KY and it’s a mixer now. Trying to get rid of it

I would like to see Booker's play with the price on releases. Batch 4 this year was worth every penny, but I'd definitely be miffed spending $90 on a Booker's and have it be mediocre.

Have a great holiday season!

I was so excited to get the Tin Cup 14er. It was so meh.

Voyage has grown on me. First sip I did not enjoy but feel like it has opened up nicely. For me it was the finish that was bad at first but seems to have smoothed out. Not my favorite MK but still a great bottle.

I bought a 2022 TC 14 er in Texas, have not opened yet. I wonder how it would compare to your 23 TC.

The 2020 bottle was SE4xPR5.

Tin Cup 14 year was good but 10 year is one of my favorites. I am not a fan of Koval or Bookers! The Voyage is just not worth the money which is so unfortunate because I love Masters Keep.

BEP is honestly in my top 10 I’ve tried this year. Love it

Outstanding as always guys. I have to agree with you on the Koval. I'm in the Chicago area also and have tried a few Koval's over the years. The only bottle I'd pay money for is their Oat Whiskey. It's actually quite good for a low proofer. Thank you and keep up the great work.

tin cup 14 is great

I agree. 10-yr TINCUP is way better than the 14-yr.

I was out hunting yesterday and actually found a bottle of Makers BRT-01 from 2022 sitting on the shelf in a liquor store in a smaller rural town in Illinois. It's really good, but tasting it side by side with the Makers 46 cask strength I actually think the 46 CS wins out for me, and it's at a lower price point.

Pull out the milk frother on these.

When they have spoke about the Elijah Craig Barrel Proofs, like the C923 and such, i also hear them say they sometime compared them to what sounds like, to me, Pirate Bottles. Are they saying Private Bottles like the store pick kind or is it something else? I worry im just not hearing them correctly.

Larceny C923. Should have done more research on that one. Jumped at the product availability too soon.

I liked Koval when I first got into bourbon, but I’ve noticed a distinct sharpe marker nose on all of their offerings that puts me off. Right now I feel the only decent offering is the regular rye 🤷‍♂️

WT Voyage is $320 here though converted to US that would be around $240 but still beyond my price range so not something I have to worry about being disappointed in. It is hard to compare at times since, as I have said in the case of Bookers, the bottles some distilleries import can vary from what is bottled and sold in the US. Not sure of the exact ones but there is a selection available of every bottle except the Koval available here. As for the worst I had it was a Scotch, cannot even remember the name, that had a weird, to me, finish to it. Still have the bottle somewhere and every now and then I dig it out and try it to see if it changes. It was only in the $30 range so not a big deal price wise though there are a number I paid a lot more for that I have not opened yet so who knows.

Whats your thoughts on longbranch 8year?

I guess that Crown Royal Apple is on a whole separate level of disappointment.

I’m on a different page with the voyage. Think it is a very good pour (right behind decades and revival), however, what Campari is doing with their prices is insane. Voyage 275, Rumor is RR15 will be 500, Generations 450, RRSR 300. Campari is going to make me quit buying allocated turkey. Wouldn’t be surprised to see RR13 at 250 next year given these hikes.

Personally I like BEP, but my disappointment of the year goes to Larceny C923 and ECBP B523/C923. I picked up all three on the massive hype and they're just ok to me. The Larceny I actually don't like at all to the point I question if I just got a bad bottle.

Koval oat whiskey 110 proof is interesting.. never had any of their other products. As always, love the content. Cheers 🤙🥃

I liked BEP enough to get a back-up.

You guys should do 5 bottles for each of you. So 10 bottles total.

Just remember, Trenton..with a great mustache comes great responsibility. Ask any firefighter lol!

Those that you don’t care for, what do you do with them? Will they just sit for years and years on your shelves?

Great video - very disappointed in these as well - really disappointed with the Bookers

Mine is probably smoke wagon ucuf. Does not live up to the hype at all. It seems like it’s living off the early batch hype.

Another great video from the best channel out there.. I tried a bottle of New Riff store pick in Southern Indiana. Everyone said New Riff was the up and coming bourbon.. I did not care for it at all... just my opinion obviously.

Going to agree with TC14, just not much going on there. But, MM BEP might be my favorite of the wood finishing series.

The most disappointing bottle that I’ve “purchased” was the recent OF pick from the channel we all love. My bottle was unfortunately one of those that had to be refunded due to a shortage of bottles. Was quite the bummer. I am not blaming…but remember you asked 😂 For bottles that I’ve actually opened, Remus Gatsby 2023 was pretty underwhelming for the price. Great video, as usual 👊

I honestly think my most disappointing purchase for the year, is Alberta Premium... I was super excited when I found it, but it just didn't hit for me... I love rye, but that one just falls short...

Thanks for the video. Have you guys had the Mighty Fine batch, if so what are your thoughts? I thinks it’s pretty good with a rock or a drop or 2 of water

You really should read the backstory on the Bookers. 🤨 I think it would have been great for $65. Not bad for apprentices.

I bought a bottle of Voyage. If you enjoy rum, you may really like it. If you despise rum (as I do) you will hate it. All I taste is rum.

My least favorite bottle of the year has been Westland American Single Malt! Tasted like wet cardboard and an old popsicle stick. Honestly strayed me away from American single malts as I associate them with that flavor profile.

this might be a shocker to many, but I finally got my hands on an EH Taylor bottled in bond. I gotta be honest, its really not that great. Is it bad, no. But I'd much rather sip on my heaven hill BiB. or many other bottles I have at a similar or cheaper price point that are far easier to walk in and purchase.

thanks I'll try the Tincup 10 over the 14er and save $24

I really loved the Tin Cup 14 yr. Yes, low proof, but I still got some great flavors out of ours. I would love to taste it at 50-55% though.

Hair is growing back quickly

Ron Izalco 18yr rum knocked my socks off

Most disappointing for me is Blanton’s. I had 2 bottles that tasted moldy/skunky and gave them to my brother who cannot taste or smell anything due to Covid 19. Love MM BEP and have 2 backup bottles. 🥃

I picked up the Clyde Mayes red label, 5 year, 110 proof ..I was disappointed, it was bitter dry oak notes, and too musty. I thought well I like the regular and the black label so this one should be alright...not a good one for me. ,🤷‍♂️

Wilderness Trail wheated, like acetone

Old elk four grain for me. I am new to bourbon and would not recommend, one pour done

RR13 was disappointing to me. It is good, but nothing special. The hype was crazy and I was expecting an LE experience. At least I paid retail.

Most disappointing for me? Easily this years Widow Jane Decadence. At $110, it tastes like a $20 bottle. Young whiskey that tastes like it never even shared a room with a maple syrup barrel, let alone was finished in one.

Personally love BEP.

I really like Bookers myself but lately I'm not getting anything better than the Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve 120 proof and it's typically half the price.

BEP was one of my favorites and the best wood finish they’ve done IMO